Durriken Lovel
)]] Name: Durriken “Duncan” Lovel Gender: Male Age: 15 Hobbies and Interests: Fortune-telling, art, history, classical guitar Appearance: Durriken is a very small boy, though considering the height of his parents it’s likely he just hasn’t yet hit his growth spurt- as of now he’s only 5’4”, and at 112 pounds he’s quite skinny as well. His muscle mass is negligible. His arms seem somewhat disproportionately long when compared to his torso. His skin is medium-to-light in color and doesn’t change much as the seasons do. Durriken’s face is very childlike outside of its basic structure. The face itself is rather angular, but his eyes are quite large, and his nose and mouth are both small. His ears are overlarge but are generally hidden underneath his thick, dark brown hair, which he wears just off his shoulders. His eyes are similarly a dark, chocolaty brown. His eyebrows are thick and expressive. Durriken doesn’t care much about clothing, and due to his multitude of older brother and sisters (who have had varying tastes) his wardrobe consists mainly of hand-me-downs. The most consistent attribute of his clothing is a certain kind of deep-seated griminess that can only be obtained over time. On the day of the Announcement, Durriken was wearing one of his brother’s white peasant shirts, a pair of one of his sister’s deep red harem pants, and a pair of beat-up moccasins once belonging to an indeterminate family member. Biography: Durriken’s family has a long, rich history, though the fountain of tradition from which they came has run dry since the family immigrated to America three generations ago. They are Romani- also known as Gypsies- and their names reflect that. However, after so many years under the strict regime in America much of their culture has been lost, and Durriken’s parents, Brishen and Dooriya, did their military service willingly and generally seem more like apathetic new-agers than anything else. They continue on with certain minor traditions- fortune telling being foremost among them, but music is also important- but they have lost something called their Romanipen- essentially their Romani spirit. The community at large, if they ever tried to rejoin them, would shun them- though, as they are (as far as they know) the only Romani in Pittsburgh, this is a bit of a non-issue. Family tradition holds that a curse put on the Lovel family assures that the youngest child of each generation will be cursed with terrible luck. This has always been true to some greater or lesser degree- some young Lovels have simply found themselves constantly blamed for things they have not done, while others have died horribly in impossibly unlikely situations. Many Lovels simply choose not to have children because of this, but they find that the bad luck comes to haunt them instead. The reason behind the curse is lost to time, as it took place many generations before the family immigrated to America, but every member of the Lovel family holds a powerful belief in the curse, and the youngest child of each generation generally accepted their so-called position with resignation. Brishen and Dooriya ended up having many children, being too selfish to accept the curse for themselves, but finding that they were unwilling to allow each successive child to bear the burden. They have eight children in total- Jaelle, Ion, Marko, Mihai, Viollca, Florica, Nicolæ and the youngest, Durriken. After Durriken was born, Dooriya hit menopause, ensuring the family that it was he who would be cursed. As a result of this Durriken spent his infancy more watched and better cared for than any infant could hope for, as his entire family was terrified that he'd bring some harm upon himself. Luckily this never came to pass. Despite the promise of bad luck to come that hung over his head, Durriken grew up as normally as a boy could with so many brothers and sisters. Durriken's oldest siblings, Jaelle and Ion, were full grown when he as born and lived at home, and all his siblings treated him well, if not with a bit of pity for his status as ‘the cursed one’. He did fairly well in school, finding a love of history- he particularly was interested in the history of his own people- and of art, as he was a very quiet child and generally could express himself best through it. He was known to his schoolmates as Duncan- his real first name was confusing to the other children- and he made friends fairly easily, as he was normal looking and acting enough and was generally quite kind to others. There was always the occasional child who would make fun of his name, or his family, or his strange way of dressing, but Durriken would simply ignore them, knowing that his family loved him and that's what mattered most. Like every member of his family, he learned several forms of fortune telling, and his predictions proved to be particularly likely to come true- which made sense, as his parents believed names to be prophetic and Durriken’s name meant ‘fortune teller’. He practices often and his friends- though they do think the whole thing is a bit weird- often come to him asking for predictions about important things (or things teenagers consider important, anyway). As Durriken got older, his father began to teach him to play classical guitar, and he immediately fell in love with the sound of the strings- he had never been a fan of contemporary music and was more of a fan of old-fashioned music. Luckily for him- or so his friends would say- his habit of playing guitar in the hallways combined with his boyish good looks make him very popular with the girls, though he’s bewildered by their affections. Durriken is a sweet, quiet boy. He is generally well-liked and gets good grades, though he doesn’t really take much seriously. He likes to listen to other people’s problems and combined with his ‘abilities’ he has an odd reputation as a therapist-slash-fortune teller- in general, he’s a popular destination for classmates with issues. As a result he knows just about everything about everyone in the school- luckily for them he's in no way malicious and doesn't take advantage of his privileged position. He takes the whole thing in stride- he’s happy to help people with their problems- and he always has a smile on his face. The one exception is every Announcement Day. As the "cursed child", and as his own predictions told him, he knew that one day this would be his destiny. He was right. Advantages: Durriken is a pretty popular boy, and even many of the ‘outcasts’ of the school like him, as many come to him with help with their problems. He is small and can be quite fast if he tries. And his fortune telling ability- though one might argue whether it’s valid- may (or may not) come in handy. At the very least, he’ll likely know when it’s his turn to go. Disadvantages: Durriken is in no way strong, and would be completely useless in any sort of fight. He would never want to harm another person- though he doesn’t necessarily consider himself a pacifist, he generally likes people and would not want to hurt them. And he is a strong believer in destiny and in his own fortune telling- if he predicted that he was next to die, for example, he would in no way fight it, figuring it was just his time. Designated Number: Male Student #2 --- Designated Weapon: The Art of War by Sam Thompson Conclusion: That draw is useless to him, and his fortune telling 'ability' won't do him any good anyways. If he can kill by stealth he may have a small chance, but I sincerely doubt it. The above biography is as written by Hollyquin. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made. Evaluations Kills: None Killed by: Brett Torres Collected Weapons: The Art of War by Sam Thompson Allies: Madeline Harris, Claire Heartland, William Chandler, Damon Gent Enemies: None Mid-Game Evaluation: Post-Game Evaluation: Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Durriken, in chronological order. *Lacrimosa *Claustrophobe *Small Comforts Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Durriken. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! *Durriken bothered me, a lot. There's really no way to beat around the bush here: his concept was already rather heavily based on an unfortunate stereotype, and this was exacerbated by his predictions in-game, which often felt like they were based on out-of-character knowledge derived from the rolls. I'm fine with characters having various spiritual beliefs, and with ambiguous situations which leave open the possibility of supernatural occurrences, but Durriken's narrative came down very heavily on the side of these things being absolute fact, which is, in my opinion, a really bad match for the overall tone and style of SOTF. So, in short, Durriken hit a lot of personal pet peeves, and just did not feel like a good fit for the Program to me. - MurderWeasel Category:Characters Category:Program Characters Category:The Program